Fear unlike anything he has ever known floods over him like molten asphalt as he pushes the revs higher and higher, just before the Range Rover hurries down the street and vanishes around the pine-lined turn.
He had been in the bakery when she called, unable to answer at first because he was caught between placing their order and tending to his crying son.
Raka was here.
That was what she had told him before the line went cold.
He had tried to hurry back as fast as he could, leaving Rhean with Mr. Mabillard, whom he had crossed paths with in the parking lot.
He knows the man can be trusted, having known
him as the pastor of the small evangelical fellowship that meets in the wooden chapel down in Saanen.
He would go back for his son after he rescues his wife. Then he would take them both away and disappear, far, far away, before even the
faintest barbarity could ever reach them again.
His eyes sting with rage and guilt as he gains on the Range Rover tearing down the wider road leading out of the valley.
He has to be careful, having caught a glimpse of Raka carrying his unconscious wife into the passenger seat before pulling out of the driveway.
What did he do to her? What does he plan to do with her?
Why would God keep letting the vile prevail?
Why Neva, despite how faithful she has been?
Rhett narrows the distance between the Volvo and the Range Rover as it
approaches a bend. He instinctively eases off the accelerator and prepares to fire.
A young cyclist suddenly emerges from a narrow side street, cutting across his path.
He wrestles the heavy car aside, missing the wobbling boy by mere inches.
When he fixes his gaze ahead again, the Range Rover has already vanished into a convoy of SUVs.
Gunfire cracks through the road before a web of fractures splinters across his windshield, yet he carries on, already shaping
another plan involving the trio of Land Rovers.
He needs to stop them before he loses sight of the main car.
Another round strikes the driver's door and it only takes a second before he pulls the same tactic.
The rear Defender loses its balance,
skidding off the road as another crack splinters across his windshield.
If this continues, it won't be long until the damage spreads across the windshield, leaving him blinded by the fractured glass.
But weakening the glass in one concentrated spot could earn him a bullet straight through it.
The Defender veers in a zigzag as he shoots out one of its rear tyres. He then positions himself and manoeuvres the car past the
slowing vehicle, bullets raining down behind him.
He tries to keep his head as clear as possible amid the screaming engines, speeding up
the road that winds towards the spiralling cliffs.
Prayers could not betray him more when the roar of a helicopter echoes through the cliffs, his muscles tensing at the thought that beyond the next bend, the road will give way to the mountain's shoulder.
No.
He got her back before.
He'll get her back today.
He hurtles his car sideways as a bullet misses his tyres, gravel spraying beneath him before another set of Defenders closes in, sandwiching him between the vehicles ahead and behind.
Isn't this Raka's speciality? Attacking like a thief, always with a pack of hyenas at his heels.
But Raka has dug his own pit by appearing before him today.
And he will spare none of them even a second for redemption.
He can pile up His anger and curse him later.
But for now, he wants nothing more than His help to get his Angel back.
Just as the Land Rover before him skids off the cliff road with a violent crash, the Volvo jolts.
He wrenches the steering wheel as the car rocks sideways, the ruined tyre hammering
against the asphalt in an uneven rhythm.
He slams on the brakes as the Volvo begins to slide towards the outer edge,
his sinews straining beneath the brutal drag as the car's hood crashes into the guardrail.
A violent force jerks the Volvo further towards the precipice as it fights to regain control,
the roar of the helicopter growing
more distinct with every jagged beat of his pulse.
The Defender rams into his rear quarter again, sending the
Volvo half over the precipice with a sickening lurch as he releases his seatbelt with a quick flick.
The ground gives way beneath another violent assault, and he throws the door open just as the car topples over the edge,
plunging into the yawning void below, where foliage and jagged rocks wait beneath.
Pain crashes through his spine as he strikes the mountainside, rolling over rock and earth before a jutting shelf of ground breaks his descent.
Gaining a split second of balance, he rolls over just as another burst of gunfire erupts.
With a quick motion of his hands, he ejects the empty magazine and replaces it with a fresh one.
The helicopter roars across the sky as the Volvo tumbles
down the mountainside, erupting in a riot of flames.
And he can only watch as the chaos around him dissolves into a distant haze,
his senses narrowing until all that remains is the helplessness choking the breath from his lungs.